Friday, October 24, 2008

Blogging is Taking Over My Life :)

Blogging has taken over my life. It is 11:08 am and I am still here in my jammies, but I value and so appreciate the conversation.

As you are aware if you have been reading along for awhile, I struggle, vent, fall down, get up and generally rant and rave about issues I am passionate about, which recently include faith, politics and faith and politics together (as in how does one influence the other?).

On the faith front, I have been exploring the Emergent Church movement, which makes some people nervous, others hostile, and yet others really excited. Everyone has an opinion, and as I hope you know, I value them all here. I just decided to attend an event in Memphis called The Great Emergence the first weekend in December. I hope that it will impact my prayer and discernment for a non-traditional church plant that some of us at my home church are involved in. I am passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others, and the week after next will also be attending the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. It was through that organization's publication, Outreach Magazine, that I discovered the Faith in Action Campaign.

Politics. I never really considered myself a political activist, but perhaps having an opinion and being willing to share it openly has made me one. The catalyst for my sharing came from receiving one too many mudslinging, name calling emails, that I ended up muttering about on ad infinitum with my husband. His suggestion was rather than react defensively, I go on the offense, so I guess that is what I have done, by stating my opinions, which I hope don't become offensive in the wrong way.

But check this out: an editor from a web site noticed (My meta tags must be leading people to my site) and I got the following email:
Subject: RE: Politics Message: Hi,My name is Tia and I am an editor at Opposing Views. I came across your site, liked what I read, and wanted to introduce us because we both write about political issues. Opposingviews.com is a debate site where experts go head-to-head on a variety of topics. With Election Day approaching, our experts are discussing some of the most interesting and high-profile ballot initiatives from across the U.S. I encourage you to check out those of interest…I believe you and your visitors will appreciate these debates and might want to weigh in with votes or comments. If you like our site, I would appreciate it if you blog about us or give us a link to the debates. You can create a profile page giving readers information and links to your site. Or, if it is easier, I can do this for you. In the near future we’ll add a blogosphere section to each debate so we can directly feature outside blogs like yours.Thanks for the time and consideration. Let me know if you have any questions or recommendations for experts or debates. Sincerely,Tia www.opposingviews.com.

I went to their site and it looks interesting. Which is another reason it will be going on noon soon and all I have done is blogged, read other blogs and tried to figure out how to post links to blogs I like on my blog. I had to email my web gal for help with that one. I am a total techno peasant.

Which brings up the complicated inter-relationship of faith and politics. Should one influence the other? Does my pastor have it right by abstaining from voting as a peaceful way of protest? What about writing in a candidate instead? Should the government take over where the church has failed? How can we do this perhaps on a more grass roots level in our communities (for example the Faith in Action Campaign?) and do you ultimately believe as does my husband's faith that he grew up in but doesn't follow, that God has already selected the next president, so why bother?

OK. I need to get dressed, do some errands, forget the laundry, and yikes, I do have book writing related work to do, not to mention some church outreach business. But I am way hooked on this. Oh Boy. Now when I need to work on a book, I guess I will have to go where I can't get Internet...

Peace.

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Sunday, October 5, 2008

From Faith Inaction to Faith in Action

I have to say, we had a really great message in church this morning. Our Faith in Action campaign culminated with service projects last weekend, and over 170 people from our church contributed almost 600 volunteer hours. And it was raining...and one of the guys had just lost his job the day before but came to serve joyfully anyway.
In church today we heard from some of those who served and how it affected them. I joked that they didn't ask me to share because they only wanted one to two minute snippets. Impossible...

And then the message was on putting hands and feet to our faith, that basically "faith without deeds is dead" (James 2:26). Basically, we need to live our faith, not just give it lip service. This is my language, and actually the central message of a Bible Study I have that will be released in March, UNDOING CHURCH: NOT YOUR MOTHER'S BIBLE STUDY about being the church, not just going to church.

But I thought about moving from inaction to action and the things that stop us in our tracks, all basically lies meant to keep us in a paralyzed state of inertia:
  • One person can't make a difference.
  • I'm not qualified.
  • I'm too busy.
  • We're all going to die anyway, so why bother.
  • It's not in my job description, my problem, blah, blah, blah...

But here's the deal, if we're Christians, we must act. "Saving faith moves your head, your heart and our hands. Faith alone saves us, but the Faith which saves us in not alone."

These words were spoken by our pastor this morning, and I wanted to jump out of my seat and scream, "YES!" It's the Samaritan lifestyle, something I have been giving a great deal of thought to lately. To have, to take, to make the time to be aware of life and needs around us, to be moving slowly enough to respond, and not simply wave off the needs as a nuisance or an interruption. To adopt the Samaritan lifestyle guarantees interruptions, but also blessings.

How do you live your faith? There is a hymn that has the words, "They will know that we are Christians by our Love". Have you read the book UnChristian? Love is not a word that most non-Christians use to describe us. Hypocrites, homo phobics and judgemental are closer to the top of the list. So do something to put your faith in action and change the perception. I know that those we served got a glimpse of Christian love through our service, our faith in action last weekend, but it is a lifestyle, not a program or campaign.

I echo here the verse our pastor used in closing, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me'" (Isaiah 6:8). And I want to go.

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